Man On A Mission

There are different expectations surrounding the Twins this season. A year removed from a loss in the AL Wild Card Game, the Twins are looking to make a deeper run into October. Fans even saw manager Paul Molitor utilize a five man infield during a late game situation. Every game is important and for one player the stakes might be even higher.

Brian Dozier seems like a man on a mission. His mission, should he choose to accept it, is to guide this Twins franchise to somewhere they haven’t been in quite a while.

Mission 1: Playoffs or BustWhen the Twins traded away multiple pieces before last year’s trade deadline, Dozier was vocal about his unhappiness with the moves. One year later and the Twins are poised to be in the playoff hunt once again. With the Indians expected to lead the AL Central, Minnesota will be forced to battle multiple teams for a Wild Card spot. There have been ups and downs for Dozier over the last couple of seasons but there have been stretches where he has been able to carry the Twins offensively. If he can do that for an entire season, the rest of the American League better get out of the way.

Mission 3: MLB’s Best Power Hitting Second BasemanSince the start of the 2013 season, Brian Dozier leads all MLB second basemen with 145 home runs. He’s also been a terror for teams out from of the leadoff spot. His 21 lead-off home runs since 2015 are the second most in baseball beyond Colorado’s Charlie Blackmon (22). Because of his placement as the leadoff hitter, he has been able to produce four straight 100-plus run seasons. There are two Jose’s who might be battling for the title of best hitting second baseman. Jose Altuve is coming off an MVP season on the way to leading Houston to the World Series. Jose Ramirez spends time at third and second and led the AL in doubles last season.

Final Mission: New ContractContract talks between Dozier and the Twins dried up last week. He and the club don’t want on-going negotiations to be a distraction during the season. That being said, Dozier is playing for what could be the only big payday of his career. Some players get overwhelmed during a contract year and can’t perform up to their previous level. Other players thrive under this pressure and put together one of the best seasons of their careers. It feels like Dozier is in the latter group and he could be on his way to a record-breaking season.

Those are his missions and he certainly has chosen to accept them. Any questions?

4 Comments

I can see Dozier really proving it this year. He's proven he doesn't wear down and with three homers maybe he's not always going to start slow. Cha ching. One note. If your going to always quote baseball's unwritten rules of yore you might want to consider context. Maybe it's ok to bunt in a situation like the other night if the team your facing is deploying a massive shift